Last in Racing, First in Swimming

We had a another last place at the BHYC Saturday Fun Race last weekend, however it did motivate me to do a little research on sail trim.  We'll do better next time!

On Sunday McCarthy's came over for our first swim of the year off the boat.  The weather was warm as was the water, but the winds were extremely unpredictable.  At one point we had the motor on and the next minute we were dropping sails!  We did manage to anchor close to Malagash wharf, had a great swim and a lunch while Meltemi entertained us with their sail bys!

Cheers Across The Strait

A GOOD LUCK shout out goes to fellow BHYC boats Prospector and Nut Case who also happen to be our dock neighbours.  Both boats have made the trip over to Charlottetown, PEI for Race Week (http://www.cyc.pe.ca/cyc/result.cfm?catid=21).

Good luck!

28th Anniversary Sunset Cruise

Happy (belated) Birthday Canada

Seems at least one person reads this blog since they noticed the lack of a weekly update on our latest exploits aboard "Exploits".  What a past week it was!

On June 30th, we along with 5 other boats from BHYC, crossed the Northumberland Strait to spend Canada Day on the waterfront in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.  It was for us, our biggest adventure yet.  Admittedly, I was somewhat nervous crossing the Strait.  The last time I ventured out that far was some 20 years ago when I drifted for 7 hours to Amet Island on my windsurfer (without my rig) on the May long weekend.  Coming that close to a potentially dangerous situation tends to change your perspective on things.

The weather was perfect on the 30th and the winds allowed us to sail on a nice reach straight into Hillsborough Bay.  We were averaging 5-6 knots until the wind dropped off completely.  Rather than drift against the out going tide, we fired up the iron jib and motored the last hour or so.  We completed the 32 nautical miles in 7.5 hours, dock to dock.

We had a fantastic spot at the Quartermaster Marina, right on the Charlottetown waterfront, close to all the Canada Day celebrations and Daniel's apartment.  We had a front row seat, on Abigale for an absolutely spectacular fireworks show.

Fly-Bye-Wire and Baby Bird headed back to BHYC on Friday while the brave crew of Meltemi headed out on their own to Pugwash.  It was a fantastic sailing day so we ventured up the cove towards New Dominion with a 102 year old wooden boat from Holland.  The boat had been sunk during WWII by the Germans and was dug up after the war.  It is a beautiful wooden boat that we referred to as "The Shoe Boat" since it looked a little bit like a wooden shoe.  It sailed beautifully and made Exploits seem like a new boat, despite her 40+ years.

On Saturday, we headed back to the mainland at 6 am to take advantage of the tides and to avoid building winds forcasted for later that afternoon.  The wind was hard on our nose, so the crew of Ever After decided we should motor.  Half way into the trip we broke from our travelling partners and hoisted the sails and made our way down to UA2 off of Cape John to cheer on Nut Case and Prospector who were racing from BHYC to Pictou.  Abigale planned to join us, however their youngest crew member (5 years old) fell ill so they motored the rest of the way as well.

It was a fantastic way to celebrate Canada Day and an exciting new chapter in our sailing exploits story.

Race Weekend and Anchors Away!

Our first official race was this weekend (Saturday) and we almost missed it.  My brother Bruce joined Judy and I thankfully on very little notice!

First, I mis-read the email announcing the start of the season.  I have to thank Kim for correcting me!  Then, on race day, we got to the start line 5 minutes late.

To refer to the conditions as changeable would be an understatement. We actually drifted across the start line and really struggled on the first leg which was a down wind run (we have no spinnaker).  When we reached the first mark, we knew the conditions were about to change! The wind started to pick up and reached 28 knots in the gusts.

Prospector bent a whisker pole and Wings broke a shroud.  We didn't break anything or lose anyone thankfully. We resorted to using a 4 foot long boat hook for a whisker pole, so we really were a low budget, low tech racer! We finished tho and didn't do too bad considering we rigged a full main and 150 genoa. When we finished you couldn't walk through the cabin of the boat. Stuff was flung around pretty good.

Prospector finished first, Abigale second (on corrected time), Nut Case third.  Fly-Bye-Wire repeated our mistake from last week and almost had the boat in irons.  It was enough of a mistake to give us a forth place finish ahead of her.  Our sister boat Wings dropped out due to a problem with their shrouds rather than risk busting a mast.  Ever-After pulled committee boat duties.  Congrats to all boats.

On Sunday I cleaned things up in preparation for the Island trip and Jude and I went out for a easy sail. We dropped the anchor (for the first time) just off the tip of Malagash Point (at Kate and Tarjei's). We only stayed for a bit, which turned out to be a good thing since the tide was very low this weekend and we just made it back into the marina. The depth guage was reading 0.0 feet most of the way in the channel.  Lucky for us the new owners dredged the entrance to the marina or we'd likely still be sitting there.

We filled the water tanks and hosed everything down. Exploits is ready for our first really big adventure in a couple of days when we head out to Charlottetown, PEI for the long weekend!

The Learning Curve Just Got Tougher

Depending on your measure, this past weekend was another successful weekend on Exploits.  On the other hand, if the measure of success is winning, then our first race would have to be described as a bit of a disappointment.  Fortunely for us, racing is a distant second to enjoying time on our boat.

Our weekend started early for Jude and I who managed to squeeze in a Friday evening sail that went from glassy calm, to a rather exciting sail in strong gusts.  The Matilda 20 with Keith aboard (single handing) was the only other sailboat out.  The Stewards were out losing pieces off their power boat until they plugged the engine with weeds and caused an overheating issue.  We planned to sail out and anchor for our first swim of the season, but the wind had other plans.

Saturday was the day of the first race at Barrachois Harbour Yacht Club.  It was a pursuit format which met we started according to our handicaps, the theory being that we all finish at roughly the same time.  So much for theory.  We had a fantastic start and were doing OK to the 3rd mark.  When we turned at BHYC2, everything started to go wrong.  I took the wrong line, we fouled a winch, couldn't find the mark.  It wasn't pretty.  The field all blew past us and that would be the last we would see of the 5 other boats in the race.

The good news is, Mike and Maria joined us for the race.  It was their first time on a sailboat and we are pretty sure they enjoyed themselves.  They picked up on their crew duties very quickly and didn't seem to mind that we finished 6th...errr...last.  Judy and Daniel did an excellent job as usual.

We finished off the day at the BHYC gazebo and enjoyed an excellent meal prepared by the social directors for the club.  Excellent food and great company, lots of drink.  I eventually got over my last place finish!

On Fathers' Day Sunday we headed back out for a few more hours.  Again the weather went from extremely gusty (my windsurfing buddies were rigging up) to flat calm back to a strong breeze in the span of 3 hours.  I am however getting very good at switching sails on the run!

As for my racing career, I am not sure what the future holds.  I obviously have a lot to learn!

Pictures Are Worth A Thousand Words!